3 ms·

A point-of-view from the essay is the author dislikes employees who can't think critically. The big issue I have with the piece is that poor critical thinking

by Dwolb 10y ago

A point-of-view from the essay is the author dislikes employees who can't think critically. The big issue I have with the piece is that poor critical thinking skills isn't an issue with only MBAs. Every field and every degree has a spectrum of people with poor critical thinking skills to good critical thinking skills. So yes, dumbly putting up a client-facing diagram of a 5 forces analysis might be pretty stupid, but knowing to think about the role government might play in the firm's ability to capture profits is good practice. Similarly in hardware, blindly following a manufacturer's board layout is dumb too if you don't understand the specific needs of your application and how the schematic and board might change.

dilemma 10y ago
Inability to think critically or be creative often come as a result of management. Positions are too narrowly defined, so operators lack context for their work. Without information, you literally can't think at all.
- RobertKerans 10y ago
  To put slightly positive spin on that, is being uncreative not a benefit in management? In my experience, those that are creative (although that's a pretty nebulous term) seem to, as a rule, be fairly—deeply uncomfortable in management positions, because creativity is curtailed - more prosaic organisational skills are more important.
- wallace_f 10y ago
  >Inability to think critically or be creative often come as a result of management. Unfortunately, in my experience management does not want you to think critically. They want you to do what you are told. From the article: >... the science of handling pig iron is so great and amounts to so much that it is impossible for the man who is best suited to this type of work to understand the principles of this science, or even to work in accordance with these principles, without the aid of a man better educated than he is. This is so accurate a description of management in my experience. Unfortunately, I have not always worked for the best companies, but I don't know if it's the same at the best places.

by Dwolb 10y ago

dilemma 10y ago

Inability to think critically or be creative often come as a result of management. Positions are too narrowly defined, so operators lack context for their work. Without information, you literally can't think at all.

RobertKerans 10y ago
To put slightly positive spin on that, is being uncreative not a benefit in management? In my experience, those that are creative (although that's a pretty nebulous term) seem to, as a rule, be fairly—deeply uncomfortable in management positions, because creativity is curtailed - more prosaic organisational skills are more important.
wallace_f 10y ago
>Inability to think critically or be creative often come as a result of management. Unfortunately, in my experience management does not want you to think critically. They want you to do what you are told. From the article: >... the science of handling pig iron is so great and amounts to so much that it is impossible for the man who is best suited to this type of work to understand the principles of this science, or even to work in accordance with these principles, without the aid of a man better educated than he is. This is so accurate a description of management in my experience. Unfortunately, I have not always worked for the best companies, but I don't know if it's the same at the best places.